Man comes to fix copier, becomes child of God

The fall semester has not even begun, but God is already providing divine appointments for His people to share the Gospel with the lost. When Jason, a copier technician, came to the Southwestern campus to fix a machine on Aug. 3, Carl Bradford, Southwestern’s new instructor in evangelism, utilized the opportunity for some pre-semester witnessing.

As Jason worked to fix the copier in the office of the Fish School of Evangelism and Missions, Bradford mentioned to him that he used to sell copiers and probably could have exercised some of his technical skill in order to assist Jason in his work. Jason inquired as to why Bradford had left such a line of work in order to become a preacher and teacher of God’s Word. Bradford told him, “I never got over the fact that God saved someone like myself; therefore, I wanted to tell everyone about the good news of Jesus Christ.” 

Bradford asked Jason if he knew the Lord. Jason said “yes,” and Bradford inquired as to how he became a believer. Jason answered, “I was always saved, but while in the military, I found myself calling on God to help me and keep me alive.” 

In listening to Jason’s story, Bradford realized that Jason could not point to a specific time in his life when he accepted Christ and decided to follow Him. 

“Immediately, I told him that salvation is not asking God to keep one alive,” Bradford says. “Rather, one believes that Jesus died on the cross for our sins, that He was buried, and that He rose again. And that if he (Jason) would confess and believe the previous statement and accept Jesus as Lord—to make up his mind to live a life submitted to God—he would be saved.”

Bradford shared his own testimony of how he came to know the Lord, pointing to a specific time when, in his early 20s, he called on the name of the Lord for salvation. From that point on, Bradford explained, he was a child of God. 

Bradford invited Jason to accept Christ in the same way, or to tell him why he did not want to do so at that time. Jason replied, “Nothing is stopping me, and I want to be saved today.”

“So he did just that,” Bradford says. “He invited Christ into his life.” 

Jason then shared that he had only been a copier technician for three weeks. Prior to that, he lost his previous job, moved to Texas because of a family member, and found new work fixing copiers. Despite the difficulties associated with such a turn of events, Jason said to Bradford, “Looking back, I can now see this was all part of God’s plan.” 

Bradford obtained Jason’s phone number, and he plans to follow up with him regarding church attendance and baptism. Jason had come to Southwestern merely to fix a copier, but through his God-appointed conversation with Bradford, he became a child of God.